CHICAGO — Charlotte Doyle hit the gym two hours a day, embraced the latest fashions and made sure that not a strand of gray peeked through her thick blond hair.
But at age 61, she got pink-slipped from her job in pharmaceutical sales. So, in 2009, shortly after she was laid off after 29 years, Doyle decided to take an unorthodox step in a cutthroat job climate and get her teeth straightened.
“I need to do everything I can to be competitive,” said the Homewood, Ill., resident, flashing a gleaming mouth of metal. “I desperately want to work.”
While most older job-seekers know the importance of keeping their skills current, some are applying that same advice to their faces. From orthodontics to eyelifts — and everything in between — they are turning to such enhancements to gain an edge in the workplace.
Looks matter. In a quarter-century of research, Nancy Etcoff, a psychology professor at Harvard Medical School, has found that attractive people are more likely to be hired and promoted, earn higher salaries and be perceived as more intelligent and creative than their less fetching peers.
Not that plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry or other elective treatments have escaped the recession. In 2009, doctors performed 12.5 million cosmetic procedures, a figure that has steadily decreased during the previous two years, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The only gains were in the minimally invasive categories — such as injectables like Botox and dermal fillers — that are less expensive and have scant recovery time.
It’s another tool, though perhaps an extreme one, for aging baby boomers, many of whom are counting on working past conventional retirement age as a hedge against longer life spans and shrinking nest eggs.
Teeth whitening? Laser peels? Even “hair systems”? Check, check and check.
No group keeps data on why people take such steps to improve their appearance, but anecdotally, employment is often cited as the primary motivation — a change from earlier decades, when social status and romantic viability topped the list, experts say.
“Patients are saying it’s a matter of staying competitive,” said Dr. Loren Schechter, a Morton Grove, Ill., plastic surgeon. “Even surgery — facelifts, eyelifts — is coming back to pre-2008 levels. That wasn’t there a year ago.”
Those older than 55 are among the hardest-hit by unemployment, with nearly 30 percent out of work for a year or longer, said a July poll by Pew Research Center.
Companies sometimes insist that appearance is key to conveying a certain image — whether a TV anchor or a hostess at a hot new club.
Better packaging won’t necessarily get you the nod as much as the ability to adapt to a constantly changing workplace and networking, said Jacquelyn James, of the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College.
“Of course, you want to do everything possible to look appealing, but you don’t have to restructure your face,” said the 63-year-old research director. It’s more important to be social and “get in front of people and show them the positive energy and the light in your eyes.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
